Tuesday, 15 April 2014

march book review

Halfway through the month of March, I decided that reading needed to become more of a priority for me again. It is one of those things that I will immediately push aside when something else comes up, or time that I will forfeit in exchange for sleep at the end of a long day.

That stack of library books that I took a picture of in this post? I've slowly started working my way through it. Some have already been renewed because my goal was a bit lofty, but I'll get through them.

The first one that I finished was Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling. I loved her on The Office. I had no idea that she was also a writer of the show (that tells you how little I look into the television shows that I enjoy). This book was a great light read - if I only had five minutes to spare while I was eating a sandwich, it was fine because there was no plot to dive into or characters to keep track of. I thought that it was humourous, but not funny. I didn't laugh out loud very often, and I wanted to. After listening to Bossypants by Tina Fey on my iPhone while I was out walking and literally having to stop and put my hands on my thighs because I was doubled over from laughing so hard (yes, out in public, by myself....great visual), I wanted to laugh like that at this book as well. And I didn't. That's not to say Mindy Kaling isn't funny, because she obviously is, I just wanted this book to be a bit funnier.

The second book that I read from that stack was Butter by Erin Jade Lange. It's a young adult novel, so I read this partially for work, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Young adult novels are usually pretty quick to get through, and even though this one was longer than most, it was no exception. An easy read for an adult, but such an interesting plot. Without giving away too much, the main character - Butter - is an obese teenager who, after a very bad day at school, creates a website where he announces that he will end his life on New Years Eve with one final (extreme) meal. The majority of the book deals with his classmates' (note: not friends, but classmates) reactions, as well as his own reactions to what he has decided to do. There are a few different paths that the plot could take towards the end of the book, and Lange does a great job of not making the ending obvious.

I still have quite a few library books to get through, but next on my list is Crime and Punishment (also for work). I've started to read Animal Vegetable Miracle at the same time as well. A person can only take so much psychological drama in one sitting...